


Wing-suit Mk II and Other Problems

by Movie_Riggs



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU with Vulture, Before and after Infinity War, F/M, Pre-relationship Peter and Michelle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-25 21:33:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14387565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Movie_Riggs/pseuds/Movie_Riggs
Summary: While Peter Parker deals with budding romance, Spider-Man continues to hunt down the last of Adrian Toomes' henchmen. That's about the time that the Vulture himself returns...only not in the way Peter would have expected.





	1. The Tinkerer and the Hunter

**Author's Note:**

> It's literally less than a week till Infinity War and I'm still trying to squeeze in another AU.

"Okay, Karen, activate enhanced reconnaissance mode."

"Sure thing, Peter," the lovely feminine voice of his suit's AI replied. 

Peter crept slightly higher up the wall in order to keep in the shadows. Through the broken window at his right, he could just see the outlines of several figures. One of them was displaying a large tool of some kind to the others. 

_"Do you think that's one of the old alien-tech weapons?"_

Peter rolled his eyes. "You know, the whole point of reconnaissance is so that I can hear what they're saying."

 _"Sorry,"_ his Guy-in-the-Chair replied on the other end. _"This is just so exciting!"_

 _"Literally nothing has happened yet,"_ another voice chimed in.

Peter's head jerked up. "Is that MJ? When did you get here?"

 _"It's not_ not _MJ,"_ came the cryptic reply, along with the sound of chewing (the Spidey Squad, as Ned called them, were well known for eating on the job. Particularly the two who didn't have to wear a mask that covered up their mouth. Watching his live feed from Ned's laptop with Chinese takeout was better than popcorn and a movie). _"And I got here exactly one minute and thirty-seven seconds ago. So, is it one of those old alien-tech weapons?"_

Peter peered through the window once more. "Looks like it," he confirmed. 

_"If this guy was Toomes' #1 man like Davis told you, that means we should be able to get the last of their stuff off the market tonight."_

"Hence why I'm clinging to this wall at two o'clock in the morning, Ned."

_"You're pretty salty tonight, Parker."_

Peter sighed in exasperation at the never-ending banter. "No, I'd just really like to be able to actually hear what these guys are saying."

Finally, Ned and MJ stopped talking. With the advanced reconnaissance mode that Karen had activated, Peter was able to pick up on the criminals' conversation without having to get any closer than several yards.

"...can't give you a demonstration, you're just going to have to trust me," the man with the tool in his hands was saying. "Look, Spider-Man already took my boss down. I'm just trying to operate under the radar till he gets out. These weapons are useful, they're on sale, and a guy like you could use one or two."

"What's that supposed to mean?" one of the potential buyers demanded in a thick accent.

Phineas Mason swallowed nervously. "Oh, nothing, it's just...well, I thought...the weapons you have on hand now seem to be a bit...old-fashioned."

The broad-shouldered buyer stroked his beard, leaning close enough to Mason that the latter could smell the first's breath. "In the...how do you Americans say...good old days? A man needed only a spear to take down a beast twice his size. And now we are selling space guns to one another in the hopes of making petty bank robberies a little easier."

"So...that's a no?" Mason questioned. 

The large man huffed once, then turned on his heel and began to walk away. "Kraven will get back to you."

Peter silently crept through the broken window and dropped down to the floor, landing with perfect balance. Once the not-buyers had made their way out of the room, Spider-Man popped into the open for Mason to see. "Hey there!" he said in a chipper voice that did not at all reflect the lack of sleep Peter was currently cursed with. Panicking, Mason whirled about, firing the gun that was in his hands. Spider-Man expertly dodged the blast with back-flip and shouted, "WEB GRENADE!"

A ball of webbing launched from his left wrist, bursting apart and enveloping Mason and his gun. The heavyset man struggled against the sticky substance to no avail, eventually collapsing onto the floor in a clumsy mess. 

"You worked for Toomes, huh?" Spider-Man asked, casually reinforcing the webs that held the Tinkerer to the floor while he used his captive's own phone to dial the police. "No offense, but it doesn't really show. He was a lot harder to take down."

"Mmfhsgshrsgmffhf," Mason said through the web keeping his mouth shut. 

"I'll bet," Peter nodded in mock agreement, then into the phone, "Yeah, hi, 911? This is Spider-Man. I've captured a bad guy you might wanna pick up. I actually have no idea what address this is...you can trace the call, can't you?"

"MMFGHRGSFTF!" Mason shouted.

Peter groaned. "Dude, seriously? I'm on the phone!"

"Behind you, Peter!" Karen suddenly said in his ears.

Instinctively, Spider-Man leaped up to the ceiling. Glancing downward, he saw that the broad-shouldered man and his assistant had returned to ambush him. He noticed for the first time that the leader was dressed in a strange fur coat and brandished a spear and a machete, with a hunting rifle strapped across his back. 

"Whoa, hey! You've been playing a little too much _Far Cry 5_ , huh?"

"Kill the bug-man!" Spear Guy ordered. 

His henchman stepped forward, but Spider-Man easily struck him with a second web grenade. 

"Fine," Spear Guy said. "Kraven will kill the bug-man himself!"

Spider-Man dropped the floor. "Oh, so you're one of those guys who talks about himself in the third person? And that accent! Where you from?"

"Mother Russia," Kraven replied. "By way of Mother Africa!"

Spider-Man couldn't resist a chuckle at his own joke, before he even told it. "Wow! Two moms and still this bad behaved?"

Kraven suddenly lunged with unprecedented speed, thrusting his spear forward and swinging his machete simultaneously. Peter ducked and managed to avoid both, striking the man in the chest. His opponent was strong--really strong--Peter realized, as the kick seemed to barely affect him.

All of the sudden, there was the sound of sirens just outside the building. Spider-Man had experienced both kinds of cops in the past; the kind that thanked him and let him swing away and the kind who tried to take him in as one of the criminals. Tonight, Peter was too tired to want to risk dealing with the second kind. 

"Wish I could keep this up, Kraven old boy, but I gotta run! Have fun in jail!"

Spider-Man slung a line of web at the ceiling and launched himself out the window. He was followed by Kraven's spear (which narrowly missed its mark) and shouts of rage from the angry foreigner. 

* * *

 

Once he was a block or two away from the scene, Peter found a building with an acceptable roof and sat down to catch a breather. 

 _"Hey, dude! Great mission! I kinda wanna play_ Far Cry 5, _now."_

_"That back-flip was a little showy."_

Peter smirked at both his friends' return to the call. "At least that's the last of Toomes' guys behind bars. I'm about to swing back, okay guys?"

_"We'll be waiting. We've got a nice bottle of celebratory soda to break open."_

"Bottle? Make it a case. See you in a few."

Ned and MJ hung up, and Peter was left alone with his thoughts as he began the quick trip back to his apartment, swinging low over the late night (or early morning) traffic of Queens.

"Hey, Karen, replay the last few minutes of that mission for me, would you?"

Karen obliged, showing Peter everything from the moment he webbed up Mason to when he swung away from Kraven. 

"That guy came out of nowhere," Peter observed. "I guess this spider-sense thing comes and goes as it pleases, huh?"

"It will likely not develop completely until the rest of your body has," Karen guessed. "Two or three more years and I predict you will be able to sense danger at all times."

"That'll be useful," Peter muttered to himself.

"Besides," Karen continued (she was so good at conversation Peter sometimes wondered if she was actually an AI or a real person). "If I'm not mistaken you seemed a little distracted tonight."

"Distracted?" Peter pretended to sound confused. He should have known better than to do that with an AI, because Karen simply clarified, "Your heart rate elevated significantly when Michelle entered the call."

Peter nearly missed his next web-sling. After catching himself, he cleared his throat. "Uh...yeah. Yeah, I guess I picked up on that too."

"I don't blame you, Peter," Karen said. "Michelle is very pretty."

"Yeah," Peter sighed, suddenly losing half of his vocabulary and unable to respond with much else. "I mean...she already knows I'm Spider-Man. That's the hard part out of the way. Would it be weird to just say, 'Hey. We should go to a movie sometime. Without Ned. And not as friends.' Crap, that _is_ weird, isn't it?"

"Michelle doesn't seem like the kind of girl that wants to go out on a traditional date," Karen recollected. "Perhaps if you simply told her how you feel."

"I'd love to," Peter admitted. "But when I try to talk about that stuff, I just get all dumb with my words. You remember how I was with Liz. And if I'm being honest...I think I like Michelle more than I ever liked Liz."

"Well, I could always tell her, if you want," Karen offered. "She and I have conversations often. Ned too."

Peter rolled his eyes. "I told them both to stop putting on my mask when I'm not in the room. Thanks, Karen, but I think I'll just gather up the courage to tell her myself. Sometime."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time on our program...Vulture returns.


	2. Backup from a Buzzard

The morning after, Peter awoke late for school. May came into his room and virtually dragged him from the bed, handing him a banana and hurrying him out the door.

A class trip was scheduled for the day. Thank God, too, because a bus ride would allow him to get a few extra winks of sleep in. He had not wanted to stay out so late last night, but it was worth it to catch the last of Toomes' men. Peter smiled to himself as he checked the Daily Bugle app on his phone. Phineas Mason was reported captured, along with a van full of weaponry that had been upgraded with Chitauri technology. Peter frowned when he realized there was nothing about the Kraven guy in the article. 

He was just in time to catch the bus before the doors shut. 

"Welcome aboard, Pete," Mr. Harrington greeted him. 

"Morning, Penis Parker," Flash Thompson said habitually.

Peter nodded to both of them as he shuffled toward the middle of the bus, where Ned had saved a seat for him. 

"Hey, man," he greeted. "Uh...where's MJ?"

Ned jerked his thumb. "The way back."

Peter stole a glance to the very back of the bus, where Michelle's curly head of hair could be seen bent over what was presumably yet another 300-page book. He nodded and sat down. 

"Something up?" Ned inquired, half of his attention diverted to the Netflix show he was watching on his phone. 

"Yeah, I was just reading the report about Spider-Man's skirmish last night," Peter said, keeping his voice low. "The police caught Mason and Damage Control got all the weapons. There was nothing about the big guy, though." 

Ned shrugged it off. "Eh. I wouldn't it worry about it. He was just a buyer. Probably won't ever see him again."

As the bus pulled away from the curb, leaving Midtown Science and Technology behind, Peter leaned his head forward against the back of Ned's seat and closed his eyes, drifting into the best nap he could manage given the environment. 

It could have been seconds or minutes later that a violent tingling erupted over Peter's skin. He felt the hairs on his arms and nape stand up straight. Shivering, he sat up straight and looked out the window. 

_Danger._

Ned would have instantly dubbed it the Giant Circle Thingy, and while Peter had nothing better to call it, he knew its purpose was a lot more sinister than it might have looked. His spider-sense was working exceptionally well today.

Peter leaned forward and tapped Ned repeatedly on the shoulder. "Ned! Ned! Ned!" he hissed. Ned pulled his headphones from his ears and turned about in confusion. Peter gestured out the window for his best friend to see. "I need you to create a distraction."

Spotting the very alien vessel hovering in the sky, Ned's face lit up and he instantly got the idea. Hurrying to his feet, he cried, "A giant alien spaceship! We're all gonna die!" Their classmates' heads shot up in bewilderment. Peter watched and waited as Ned ran to the back of the bus, urging, "Look! Look!"

When everyone had crowded to the windows and were satisfactorily distracted, Peter hurriedly began to pull down the window by his own seat. Just before he crawled out with his backpack in hand, he felt eyes on him. Worried that it was the driver or Mr. Harrington, he moved to sit back down. It was neither of the adults on the bus.

Michelle was the only student not currently panicking about the Giant Circle Thingy. Through the small crowd, her deep brown eyes stared, unblinking, at him. Her expression was unreadable, but Peter knew that she knew what he was about to do. 

_I'll see you in a little while._

_Be safe, Parker._

He crawled quickly out the window, pulled on his mask, and launched himself from the bus. 

* * *

 

Blasts from the ship began raining down on the city as Peter swung his way there, stopping only to jump out of his clothes and into his suit. He saw people screaming and running for cover, vehicles overturning or crashing into one another, and could make out the faint glint of Mr. Stark's latest suit as it flew towards the ship. He was on call a second later.

_"Mr. Parker! Feel like skipping class today?"_

"I'm already on my way!"

_"Don't stop for drive thru!"_ Tony quipped. _"FRIDAY is sending you an address. Swing by it. I've got something waiting for you."_

"Uh, right! Copy that!"

The call ended and Peter could no longer clearly see Iron Man in the sky. "Karen, what is that thing?"

"It appears to be an alien vessel attacking the city."

"No shit! But can we analyze anything from here? Potential weak points, anything?"

"You'll have to get closer if--"

Karen's voice was cut off as a blast struck just below Peter, brutally tossing him through the air until he landed on his back. His ears ringing, he struggled to stand up. The blast had caused a bus to roll over onto its side. Unlike the yellow school bus Peter had just been on, this one was colored a dull gray. A prison transport. Determined criminals were already pouring out of it, their handcuffs doing little to keep them from crawling away from the wreckage. And Peter was sure his vision must still be going fuzzy when a tall, gray-haired man emerged from the bus and started making his way across the street. 

Adrian Toomes' eyes were fixated on the ship very briefly. He then looked over to Spider-Man expectantly. Peter dizzily rose to his feet. In spite of the chaos around him, he held the gaze of the man whom he had not seen since he tied him to a Stark Industries cargo box on the beach by Coney Island. Toomes might have shouted something to him, but he could not hear over everything else going on around them.

"Peter! You are only three blocks away from the address Mr. Stark sent you," Karen said, knocking him out of his thoughts.

"Right," Spider-Man said breathlessly. "On my way." He turned and sprinted away from the prison bus, giving himself a running start before he slung a web and began swinging once more.

The address belonged to an odd building Peter had never seen before. He rushed inside, expecting to see Happy or another assistant of Mr. Stark's. Instead, it was a heavyset Asian man who appeared to have been waiting just for him. 

"Spider-Man," he greeted. "Mr. Stark left a package for you. Hurry, there is no time to waste!" He gestured to a door at their right. 

Peter nodded, rushing inside. The 'package' Tony had left him was not an unfamiliar sight. He had turned it down the first time it had been offered to him, because at the time it had represented more than he was ready for. But now? Now he must have no choice. Whatever they were fighting must have Tony worried enough that he wanted Peter wearing a suit with a little more kick to it. That scared Peter, but it also excited him, because he had always wanted to be the Iron Spider.

* * *

 

Thanos the Mad Titan was not attacking just New York, Peter learned. In fact, the Avengers were scattered across the globe and in space, fighting the enemy's forces on multiple fronts. Tony had sent the recently-returned Bruce Banner to Wakanda with War Machine to warn the Black Panther. Meanwhile, Spider-Man was accompanying Iron Man and two guys who could form circles on their hands into battle. And also a couple of strange humanoid beings (one of them _was_ human) who seemed adamant on declaring that they were "the Guardians of the Galaxy."

It was right before the battle began that they received reinforcements in the form of one other suited man; it was not who Peter was expecting to see. 

"What, did you think I didn't have a backup?" Toomes asked as a wing-suit that differed slightly from his old one brought him down to land among the heroes. "Clearly no one searched the warehouse thoroughly enough."

"What the hell are you doing here?" Peter demanded. 

"Ah," Tony said before Toomes could answer. "If I'm not mistaken, you crashed my plane."

"Technically that was the kid's fault," Toomes retorted, his hatred for Stark not disguised in the least. "Do you want my help or not?"

"I hope you don't think you're buying yourself a get-out-of-jail free card."

"What I'm buying is my family's safety."

_Liz_. Liz was all the way in Oregon. Although if Thanos wanted to kill half of the entire freaking universe...

"Let him come!" Peter said abruptly, the thought of Liz dying triggering thoughts of May and Ned and MJ dying, and all of the sudden it was worth working with his former archenemy to fight a greater evil.

Tony paused for the briefest of moments, then relented. "Alright. You heard the kid. Looks like you'll be joining the ranks of the not-Avengers."

"Seems to be a lot of those," Toomes observed, noting the Guardians and Doctor Strange.

The Infinity War began.

* * *

 

If someone asked Peter how he managed to get from New York City to an alien moon in the span of a few hours, he could not have given a straight answer. Partially because he didn't know how it all worked, and partially because he had been hit in the head so many times he was probably losing his short-term memory.

The Iron Spider suit wasn't working. Thanos was too powerful. Even Iron Man was no match for the giant purple monster, and he was freaking _Iron Man_. "I'm seventeen," Peter rasped to himself. "Oh, God, I'm only seventeen! Why did I think I could do this?"

"I believe in you, Peter," Karen's voice, now peppered with static, said encouragingly. "Just get up one more time."

One more time. He could do that. Just one more time.

The feeling in his legs might as well have been gone. Anywhere he wasn't numb, his muscles burned fiercely. But he got up.

He was down seconds later. He wanted to scream in frustration but his lungs didn't have the air. He heard a familiar electronic buzz as Tony's suit landed next to him. His mask was removed. "Tony, I'm sorry," he whispered hoarsely. "I'm so sorry. I can't do it. I'm not an Avenger."

"It's okay, kid," Tony said. "We're gonna send you back home. It's gonna be okay." It was a lie. How could it be okay?

"For the record," Tony told him as his suit's mask clamped back down. "You've been a damn good Avenger."

Then Iron Man had flown away, shouting something to Strange. Moments later, Strange and the green woman were pulling Peter up by his arms. Fighting to stay conscious, Peter watched as Strange spun a small portal into existence. An image of Queens--of home--was visible. Suddenly, Thanos was upon them. The green woman failed to deflect his punch and was flung to the side. Strange's portal began faltering. Just when he thought it was over, this is how he died, Peter was being picked up again, this time by rough metal claws.

The ground the Vulture dropped him on was concrete, not alien. The battle could still be seen through the fading portal, but Peter was home. 

"Th...thank you," he wheezed. "Mr. Toomes..."

Toomes' icy blue eyes stared at Peter with emotions he had never seen in them before. Pity. Empathy. "You saved my daughter's life. I owed you one. You saved _my_ life. I owed you another one. Peter."

Peter felt himself slipping into unconsciousness, but before he passed out, he saw the Vulture begin to fly back inside the portal. Back into the war. 

"Find Liz, Peter," Toomes said firmly. "You find her and tell her what I did. Tell her that her daddy died a hero."

_'Died?' No, wait! No! Mr. Toomes! You can't die! Liz! She'll...she'll..._

Peter passed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most fics seem to write Adrian Toomes as a vicious character (likely due to Michael Keaton's intimidating performance), but personally I feel that he's a pretty noble guy who just made some bad choices. I liked the idea that he could redeem himself, hence why I decided to write this story in the first place.
> 
> We'll wrap things up in the next (last) chapter.


	3. Spider-Man For Always

"Hey there," were the first words Peter heard when he woke up. They were spoken before his eyes opened, meaning the woman who had said them had been watching over him and seen him stir. He stretched, sinking further into the recognizable warmth of his own bed sheets. A small hand gripped his wrist gently, urging him further into consciousness. 

"May?" Peter began to sit up much too quickly, causing the blood to drop from his head and send him into a state of dizziness. Despite his state (and the fact that every muscle in his body was the sorest it had ever felt), Peter clenched his fists and whirled them about aimlessly. "Thanos...gauntlet...gotta stop him..."

"Peter! Peter!" May shook him frantically. "Cut that out! Settle down!" 

Peter's drawling faded and he collapsed back onto the bed. "That's okay, baby," May whispered. "You're okay."

Peter fell back asleep.

The next time he awoke, May was standing above his bed with a bowl and glass in her hands. "Made you some pasta," she announced proudly. For all the numerous times his dear aunt had burned their dinner, Peter thought the food smelled overwhelmingly good. May set the bowl down on his nightstand. "You don't have to eat right away if you don't want," she said. "But drink all the water. You must be dehydrated by now."

Peter began to devour the meal, hardly stopping to chew, and chugged the water sloppily, only slowing down so that more of it would actually end up in his mouth and not on the front of his shirt. May stood waiting till he was done, then offered to take the empty bowl and glass for him. Before she left the room, she looked over her shoulder thoughtfully. 

"You've got a visitor, by the way," she informed him. "If you want to rest, I can tell them to come back later."

"No, that's okay," Peter said quickly, aching to see his friends. May nodded and exited. A moment later Tony Stark entered. Peter sat up hurriedly. "Oh. Hey. I, uh, I thought you were Ned. Or MJ."

Tony looked like a broken man, and not just because his face was sporting numerous cuts and bruises (Peter would have been too, if not for his accelerated healing). No, it was something in his eyes. A certain luster they had had was gone. Peter wondered how, after everything Tony had already been through, it took _this_ battle to beat him. Tony pulled the chair from Peter's desk up next to the bed, sitting in it backwards so he could lean forward, chin resting on his forearms. 

"How you holding up?"

"Fine. I'm good," Peter nodded assuredly. "What about you?"

Tony heaved his shoulders. "Well, we won."

"That's great," Peter offered a grin. "Awesome. We'll get all the Avengers together and have a party, right? It'll be fun."

Tony remained silent. Peter noticed and sheepishly attempted to wipe the grin from his face. Tony didn't look like he blamed the boy for trying to be cheerful, but he did have to explain everything.

"This was war, kid. There was bound to be some casualties."

Peter's brow raised in surprise. "Oh. _Oh_. That's what it is."

"Yeah..." Tony nodded, glancing down at the floor. "So, uh...a memorial service for Steve Rogers will be held at D.C. President Ellis will speak. I'll speak...mostly because my dad would have wanted to, and he can't, so..." A pause to clear his throat, and he continued. "Vision is gone. Thor's brother, I think. He wasn't exactly clear on that. Your bird man didn't make it either."

Wasn't Captain America supposed to be invincible? Peter allowed himself a few moments to let it all sink in. 

"Toomes died?" 

"Yep," Tony nodded, almost sounding guilty. "Saving your ass when I couldn't, as a matter of fact. There's irony in there somewhere, but I was never good at English Lit."

 _Liz_ , was all Peter could think.

Tony let out a sigh that bore the weight of everything on his shoulders, and began to stand up. "Basically, the future of the Avengers is uncertain at best. Cap was the leader. Always was. So, I guess in a way, we haven't been the Avengers for a while now. Anyway...Rhodey's got his injury to keep healing from. Barton's got his family. T'Challa has to run a nation. Thor is gonna stick with those other space weirdos for a while. And...you've got homework."

The last bit was the only time Tony could manage a hint of a smile, as both knew he was throwing a line Peter had once told him in this very room right back at him.

"What about you?"

Tony nodded. "Yeah, what about me? Good question. I dunno. Ten years is a damn long time to get kicked around inside a big metal body bucket. And I turned forty a long time ago, so that doesn't help. I figure it's about time I throw in the towel. Which, in a way, makes you the world's last superhero."

Peter's eyes widened. The idea that he should argue against Tony's decision, try to persuade him to stay and lead a new generation of Avengers, crossed his mind. But he knew that would not be a fair request to make. And yet...to be the world's last superhero?

"That is a lot of pressure on me," Peter finally breathed.

"No one's telling you that you have to do it," Tony added immediately. "No one would blame you. Of course, you could still keep the suit--both of them--although the Iron Spider's gonna need a little time in the shop. I'm sure it'll do wonders for home defense. Doesn't mean you have to use it every day like you've been doing. After all, it feels like it's all been leading to this. The Infinity War. Kinda makes me wonder if God made superheroes for one purpose, and if now that purpose has been fulfilled. Then again, I'm not Cap; I don't even know if I believe in God. Look, all I'm trying to say is you're free to just be Peter Parker again, you know? You don't have to be Spider-Man if you don't want to be."

Peter moved his head slightly in acknowledgment, staring in deep thought at his wall. He listened to the creak of his chair as Tony stood up. 

"So, this is the last time we see each other?"

He finally looked away from the wall and up at the closest thing he had had to a father figure since Ben died. Said father figure stared at Peter fondly, and tapped his fist twice against the nightstand. 

"On the record? Yeah. It probably is. Pepper and I will probably be going to London for starters. Or maybe Paris. Get a nice countryside home away from everything. Live without so much technology for once. Of course, we'll have to have an extra room for Happy, so he can grow old with us."

Peter would have smirked at the joke, but could not, because he was beginning to realize that what Tony was really saying was that he was on his own now. 

"Mr. Stark, I--"

"World peace, kid." The billionaire and former superhero who had forever altered the course of Peter's life turned and walked out without another word. Peter listened to him make his leave, telling Aunt May that he would "take a rain check on the pasta." That was when Peter noticed his suit--the one Stark had first given him in Germany and that he had most recently left lying in a pile on Doctor Strange's floor--had been left folded neatly on his chair.

* * *

 

Ned and MJ both came over to visit him later in the afternoon and then stayed for dinner. When May and Ned agreed on a rom-com they both enjoyed (Peter was pretty sure Ned was just _saying_ he liked it because...May), Peter decided to excuse himself to retrieve something from his room for a minute. What he actually did was throw on his suit, climb out the window, and crawl up the wall till he reached the roof. 

He had been standing there observing the evening horizon for only a few minutes when the sound of someone's feet clanging on the fire escape reached his ears. MJ marched over to him, arms folded casually across her chest. 

"Figured you'd be up here."

"Really?"

"No. Just a lucky guess."

Peter chuckled and removed his mask so he could look at her without any sort of filter. He then proceeded to tell her everything Tony Stark had said earlier that day.

"He's right, you know?" MJ said solemnly when Peter finished. "You're free. You don't have to be Spider-Man anymore. The big universe-level threat is gone, and if there's ever another one I doubt it will be in our lifetime." 

"Hopefully not," Peter agreed.

MJ studied him for a moment, sighing. "You can't do it, can you? Give it up, I mean?"

Peter shrugged. "I dunno, maybe. Maybe. It's just that I'm not like Mr. Stark. Or really any of the Avengers. I didn't become a superhero for the purpose of protecting Earth from alien invasions. I did it because of Ben. I did it because one day I saw a lady getting mugged and felt the power to stop it just _boiling_ in me, and when I ignored it I ended up hating myself. I know there will always be more bad guys, and there will always be more good guys to stop them, but I won't just stop being one of those good guys. This job doesn't have an end date."

MJ considered his statement for a moment, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Okay, Peter, I want you to close your eyes."

Peter furrowed his brow. "You want...wait, seriously?"

"Yes. Close your eyes."

Peter obeyed, his vision going dark but the image of MJ's lovely face glowing in the sunset still clear in his mind. 

"Picture your future," her voice said. "Ten...no, twenty years from now. Do you still see yourself as Spider-Man? Swinging from skyscrapers and making smart-ass jokes at car thieves?"

"Sure," Peter said. He opened his eyes when he heard MJ huff in disbelief. "Look, I don't know," he admitted. "I don't know about the future. I only know about now. And right now, I still see myself as Spider-Man. You...and May and Ned, too...you gotta understand, this is just what I feel I was born to be."

"I understand," MJ nodded. "You're a selfless loser. Always have been."

A grin burst onto Peter's face, and he rolled his eyes.

MJ suddenly took the slightest of steps forward. Given that they were already standing close in order to gather a little extra warmth from the bite of the wind, that meant they were now virtually pressed against one another. "So," she said, almost whispering now and trusting his enhanced senses to pick up her voice over the sound of traffic. "You really can't see anything particular in your future?"

Peter swallowed nervously in spite of himself. "Well...I...uh..." 

 _Just tell her how you feel,_ Karen's voice echoed in his head.

"I see...some things. Like...college. I know I'll go to college. And, uh..."

 _Would you tell her how you feel, you idiot?_ he shouted at himself.

"I see you."

A chill ran up Peter's spine, and for a brief moment he thought it was because he had just admitted his feelings for MJ, and from the look on her face she had clearly understood what he was saying. But then he recognized the cold feeling that always came with _danger_. A moment later, sirens were wailing in the streets below, accompanied by what sounded suspiciously like the roar of a lion.

Before he could say a word, MJ had closed what little gap was left between them and cupped his face in her hands, kissing him tenderly (if not a little awkwardly, as both had considerably little experience in this department). When she broke apart, the look in her eyes was one Peter could only read as acceptance. Acceptance of his feelings for her, because she had of course been harboring the same feelings for him since sophomore year. Acceptance that even though he had these feelings, he would have to leave her tonight and many more nights in the future in order to fulfill the responsibility he had been given. Acceptance that even though he would have to leave her, he would always come back.

Acceptance that Peter Parker was and always would be the Spider-Man.

"Go get 'em, tiger," she said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't try to tell me MJ won't be the one to initiate the first kiss between her and Peter.
> 
> Highly recommend YouTuber Benjamin Squire's version of the Spider-Man theme, not just because it fits the last bit of this chapter but also just because it's great.
> 
> Thanks to all who read.

**Author's Note:**

> Next time, on our program...Vulture returns.


End file.
